Parrish Skies

By Eilene Lyon My Colorado home experiences exquisite sunrises and sunsets on a regular basis. It takes only a few clouds to add rich hues to our morning and evening skies. Whenever I find startlingly deep cyan set off with billowing cumulous clouds in a vibrant pink-orange glow, I’ve taken to calling them “Maxfield Parrish... Continue Reading →

Shameless Self-Promotion

By Eilene Lyon (of course) I normally keep all my book-promotion-related material on my author website. But I do have some news to share. I hope (ahem) that you won't be terribly put out. My first book, Fortune's Frenzy, was a finalist for a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. It has also... Continue Reading →

Researching Found Photos

By Eilene Lyon A Place to Start I shop at antique marts looking for 19th and early-20th century photos. We have only one antique store in Durango, which I’ve thoroughly gleaned, so this usually happens when I travel. I look for images that have a name inscribed somewhere on them, first/last or at least the... Continue Reading →

The Company Player

Found Photo Project #8 By Eilene Lyon This portrait of actor David R. Young was taken in Boston in 1896. He inscribed it to his mother, who lived in Connecticut (as did he). How it wound up in an antique store in southwestern Colorado—in the unincorporated, wide-spot-in-the-road known as Gem Village—shall remain a mystery. David... Continue Reading →

The Pomology Prof

By Eilene Lyon I’ve been renewing my interest in botany lately. You may recall this subject is one of my connections to my great-grandmother, Clara Ransom Davis. I recently received communication from the University of Idaho and learned their herbarium contains 144 valuable specimens that Clara collected in her undergraduate years in the 1890s. (She... Continue Reading →

The Palace Hotel—561 Main

By Eilene Lyon A Brick Edifice Durango was founded in 1881. Many original buildings, particularly those built of wood, no longer exist. This is the third in a series of the oldest buildings standing on Main Avenue, originally called First Street. What is now the 500 block abuts the railroad depot. Being the principal method... Continue Reading →

A Metes-and-Bounds Tool

By Eilene Lyon This information will be useful for any genealogist or family historian who deals with old land records in the eastern U.S. where surveys were done using metes-and-bounds, rather than the federal land survey grid (township and range). Metes-and-bounds surveys are usually irregularly shaped and often delineated by trees, streams, and other natural... Continue Reading →

The Brimmer Conundrum

By Eilene Lyon For this story, I have to begin at the ending. The whole shebang is much more complicated—but this is bad enough! Who Are Louisa's Parents? My 2nd great-grandmother, Louisa Mary Dills, died on February 29, 1928 in Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa. Her death certificate gives her name as Mary Louisa Dills,... Continue Reading →

Swiss Accounts

By Eilene Lyon A Visit to Ancestral Homes A couple of years before I did my DNA testing, The Putterer and I went on vacation to Switzerland, Strasbourg, and western Germany. We went to the German village, Heidelsheim, that my Springer family emigrated from in the 1800s. What I did not know at the time... Continue Reading →

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Retirement Reflections

What I Wish I Knew Before I Retired

retirementtransition

Life is a series of transitions, and so is the retirement journey.

ARTISTIC PENSION

Creative, non-monetary forms of payment

olderfatterhappierdotcom

Random musings on style and substance

Durango Weather Guy

Where the locals go, because the locals know!

Marie's Meanderings

Internet home for Marie Zhuikov: Blogger, Author, Poet, Photographer

Robby Robin's Journey

Reflections of an inquiring retiree ...

bluebird of bitterness

The opinions expressed are those of the author. You go get your own opinions.

I Seek Dead People

I write about genealogy on this site. Come see what's going on!

Moore Genealogy

Fun With Genealogy

My Slice of Mexico

Discover and re-discover Mexico’s cuisine, culture and history through the recipes, backyard stories and other interesting findings of an expatriate in Canada

Waking up on the Wrong Side of 50

Navigating the second half of my life

Oregon's Willamette Valley

The people, places, and things that make the Willamette Valley shine

Closer to the Edge

Journeys Through the Second Half of Life

A Dalectable Life

Doing the best I can to keep it on the bright side

Amusives

Quips, Quotes; How To and How Knot To

Eilene Lyon

Author, Speaker, Family Historian

bleuwater

thoughts about life from below the surface

Ancestral Writing in Progress

... stories of significant others in the Allery, Cutting, McCulloch and Robertson tribes ...